Previous apparatus have been provided for removing water from a rod as it emerges from a water cooling tube in a rod mill. For the most part these water removing devices have employed water under great pressure to remove the water from the rod. These water-strippers have a tendency to plug up due to impurities in the water and cause the carryover of water on the rod thereby making the rod unsuitable for marketing purposes. These water-strippers have also required the use of a constant pump-packing maintenance and have an inherent difficulty in being properly adjusted for the proper flow of water under pressure.
Air strippers have been previously employed to remove water from the rod during the cooling process but have been inefficient in their configuration to provide for the water stripping function required. Once example of such a stripper is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,625 issued to Beerens, et al on Jan. 4, 1977. Therefore, there is a need for an improved water stripping nozzle to be employed in a rod cooling apparatus which is easy to maintain and which is not susceptible to the disadvantages inherent in water strippers which employ water itself to strip water from the rod as well as ineffective and inefficient air stripping nozzles.